Data storage recording devices for reading/writing from/to optical media, such as rewritable magneto-optical (MO) disks and write once (WORM) disks, employ a light source to focus a beam of light through optical elements onto a surface of the media. Light reflected by the surface is directed back through additional optical elements and onto a detector which generates electrical signals representative of data recorded on the media surface. Reflected light is also directed through optical elements onto another detector (generally a differential detector) which generates electrical signals used, in conjunction with two servo systems, to ensure that the light beam remains focused on the media surface and to ensure that the beam seeks to and follows the desired data track.
Because it has not yet been possible to completely seal an optical drive or to isolate the optical elements from the external environment, dust, lint, smoke particles and other common air-borne pollutants can infiltrate the drive and light on the optical elements. Any cooling fan in the drive unit accelerates the contamination. As contaminants build up on the optical elements, the intensity of light reaching the disk and reaching the detectors is reduced, thereby reducing readback signal levels, adversely affecting read, write, seek and tracking performance and leading to premature failure of the drive.
Cleaning cartridges, shaped and dimensioned to resemble actual optical disk cartridges, can be used to clean some of the optical elements within a drive. Heretofore, however, cleaning has been performed either at some periodic interval or upon drive failure. Neither routine is entirely satisfactory. Periodic cleaning which is dependent upon a human operator to initiate is inconvenient and may tend to be postponed or forgotten. Periodic cleaning which occurs in an automated storage and retrieval library environment may be initiated at an inopportune time and can otherwise consume valuable library resources. And, waiting until a drive fails before inserting a cleaning cartridge increases the risk of data loss and can lead to undesirable downtime of the storage system.